Tijuana Cartel

The Tijuana Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel that has operated from Tijuana since 1989. The cartel was formed in 1989 when imprisoned Guadalajara Cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo reached an agreement with the Mexican government to divide up his empire; he gave Tijuana to his nephews Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix. The cartel developed a rivalry with Joaquin Guzman Loera's Sinaloa Cartel during the 1980s, starting when the Arellano Felix brothers refused to do business with Guzman because he was not a "boss"; Guzman proceeded to smuggle drugs under their nose, and the cartel retaliated by killing his hitman Rayo Lopez at Ismael Zambada Garcia's birthday party. By 2006, the cartel had been reduced to just a few cells by the Sinaloa Cartel, and it allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Beltran Leyva Cartel with the goal of fighting back against Sinaloa.